The Making of Americans, Being a History of a Family's Progress

by Gertrude Stein

  Succeeding is to me just now very interesting. Some are certainly succeeding in living, some are certainly not succeeding in living, some are in between. I have been coming just lately to be understanding more and more the being in each one and the way being in each one makes of each one one succeeding, one not succeeding, one in between succeeding and not succeeding in living, one succeeding some, one succeeding sometime, one succeeding sometimes, one not succeeding at all in living, one not succeeding quite often in living, one beginning with succeeding, one succeeding and then not with any more succeeding just keeping on going. I have come more and more to understanding the being in men and women in relation to their succeeding and failing in living. I have been making groups of them groups of men and women and grouping the being in them in relation to ambition, to succeeding, to failing in them. I have been explaining some men to some and it is certainly an interesting thing to be doing this thing. I am hoping sometime to write a complete history of men and women, I am beginning to be hoping this thing again, I am filled up now so much with learning so much about men and women and feel so much wisdom in me now inside me completely organising that I am coming again to be almost certain that I can sometime be writing the complete history of every one who ever was or is or will be living. I will sometime be writing complete histories of pairs of people who are connected in living. I am now telling about some succeeding, some failing in living.

  It is very difficult in quarrelling for either one to be certain what the other one has then in him that is making him then do quarrelling. This is often quite astonishing This is sometimes quite entirely astonishing that not one quarrelling is certain of what the other one has in her, in him for quarrelling. This can be really astonishing when any one later is learning at all what was then in another one. And then it is such a very difficult thing ever to believe the other one when the other one is telling what was in him for quarrelling.

  It is certainly a difficult thing to believe another one about quarrelling in that other one with one. Very often then it is not a thing any one can be doing believing then the other one. Sometimes it is a thing some one can be doing believing the other one. Mostly then every one comes sometime more or less in them to quarrel with some other one, with mostly every other one sometime. A little quite a little, quite a good deal, quite some, quite almost not at all, quite often, quite seldom, quite certainly, quite slowly, quite suddenly, quite gradually, certainly there is quite a good deal in every one of some quarrelling with some one, with quite a number of them that sometime for that one are being living with that one in the living that one can have in that one. This then is to be now much description of Dehning and Hersland quarrelling. They certainly did quarrel some.

  They certainly did quarrel some all of them. They certainly did quarrel completely, some of them. This is to be now some history of all of them.

  Now I am writing of being successful in living, of quarrelling in being living. Now I am writing of having loving feeling in them some men and some women of being ones succeeding in living some men and some women, of being doing some quarrelling some of these men and some of these women. This is to be now more history of each one of them.

  Quarrelling is to me very interesting. Beginning and ending is to me very interesting.

  Mostly every one does some quarrelling. Quarrelling is to me very interesting. Beginning is to me very interesting. Ending is to me very interesting. Every one is beginning and ending in their living.

  Mostly every one is sometimes quarrelling with some one. Quarrelling as I am saying is to me very interesting. Beginning is interesting, ending is interesting to me as I have been again saying. Mostly every one is sometimes quarrelling with some one, mostly every one is beginning sometime ending with some one. This that I am now writing is a history of Dehning and Hersland living and quarrelling.

  Quarrelling is not letting those having attacking be winning by attacking, those having resisting being be winning by resisting, those having dependent being be winning by dependent being, those having engulfing being be winning by engulfing being. This is quarreling in living, not letting each one by some one be winning by the being in them. This is certainly quarrelling in living. There is a great deal of quarrelling in living, that is reasonably certain and that is a very natural thing as certainly very many are not winning with the being in them.

  Quarrelling is then this thing. Sometimes it is like not writing only for one's sell and those not knowing one. Quarrelling is then certainly mostly that each one is not winning, to some one, with the being in them, quarrelling is then certainly then mostly that some one is not winning then, for some one, with the being in them. That certainly is quarrelling. That certainly is continually happening in living in any living by every one, by any one.

  Quarrelling then is some one not winning by the being in them for some one, to some one. This is now to be some history of some quarrelling.

  Now any one can be understanding how Julia and Alfred Hersland, how Mr. Dehning and Alfred Hersland how Mrs. Dehning, how each one came to be quarrelling, how Mr. Dehning and Julia Hersland and Mrs. Dehning then came to be quarrelling with Alfred Hersland. Surely any one can now understand this thing. Surely now every one can now understand this thing.

  Mr. Dehning was helping Alfred Hersland as Alfred Hersland had wanted Mr. Dehning to help him. I was saying that Mr. Dehning came to help Alfred Hersland in the way Alfred Hersland had been wanting Mr. Dehning to help him. I told something about this thing.

  Julia and Alfred Hersland were still living a married living when Mr. Dehning was not going into any house where Alfred Hersland was staying and Mrs. Dehning was still going to see Julia where she was living. Alfred Hersland was then not beginning to be succeeding. He was really not altogether failing.

  Mr. Dehning had come to be certain that he could be explaining to any one that Alfred Hersland was not honest enough for daily living, that he could really convince any one of this thing.

  He certainly had good reason for convincing every one, he certainly could have convinced mostly every one. He could convince almost any one of this thing. He was quite certain and he had good reason for being quite certain that any one could convince any one of this thing.

  As I was saying Julia Hersland very soon after commencing having married living was certain that Alfred Hersland was not an honest one for living, she was certain of this thing, she came at that time then to be to herself completely knowing it as certain that she was an honest one in living an honest one for living, she had always been knowing that Dehning family living was honest enough for any daily living, in daily living.

  Beginning anything, going on with anything, ending come to anything to any one ever living is tome an interesting thing. This is being now more description of everything ever existing in Mr. Dehning, Mrs. Dehning, Alfred Hersland, Julia Hersland, George Dehning and Hortense Dehning and any one coming to know any of them very well in their living.

  It was a natural thing for Mr. Dehning to be certain that he could convince any one that Alfred Hersland was what he knew him then to be in daily living. It was a perfectly natural thing for Mr. Dehning to be certain of this thing, Mr. Dehning did not talk so very much about this thing. Really he told it again and again to Julia and Mrs. Dehning and George Dehning some in Dehning family living but this was a natural thing for Mr. Dehning to be doing then. Really he was naturally completely certain that he could certainly convince every one that he had been completely right in not any longer having Alfred Hersland in any family living where he Mr. Dehning was having family living. He was certain that this thing was a right thing. He never thought or said then that Julia should have come to be certain not to want to be married to Alfred. He certainly never did say this thing then, that is he never really certainly said this thing. He said quite often that Alfred Hersland was not honest enough for any daily living. He was quite certain of this thing. Any one certainly could be convinced of this thing if there could come any reason for conv
incing any one of this thing. Mr. Dehning said this thing when it was right for him to be saying this thing. Mr. Dehning had completely natural feeling in him about this whole thing. This then has been a description of Mr. Dehning and Alfred Hersland having been in Dehning family living. This is to be now more description of being in each one and in some together in living of these I have mentioned again and again.

  Alfred Hersland had ambition in him. Julia Hersland had ambition for living. Not either one or the other of them had really sense for living, not either one or the other was really in the whole of living succeeding or failing. They had each of them ambition in them. They had ambition differently in them each one of them. Mr. Dehning had ambition in living. Mrs. Dehning had ambition. This is to be now some description of ambition, and honest living, and loving being and daily living and succeeding and failing in each one of them.

  Alfred Hersland then was for Dehning family living, not honest in daily living. He was much later when he was working with some men then fairly successful in living. He could be then when working with certain men quite a successful enough one in living. He had not really sense for living, he had not really not any sense for living. He had as I was saying not any ambition in him from the resisting, from the engulfing being in him. He had a feeling from the resisting and engulfing being in him some feeling of succeeding in living, of feeling something elegant in him in living for him. He had then too, from the resisting and engulfing being in him with this feeling of feeling something being quite elegant in him and in living and some feeling of succeeding being an elegant thing in being living, quite a good deal of vanity for living. As I was saying really aspiration and ambition was really stupid being in him because really he was one not winning by being resisting, really not winning by being engulfing. He had aspiration in him, he had ambition in him, as I was saying he had not really feeling of anything being important in him until he was loving and wanting to stop studying to marry that one and then not wanting to marry that one. He had not ambition and aspiration in him by the being of him. He had aspiration and ambition in him, beginning when something was important to him, as something of emotion, as certainly a good deal of intention. So then aspiration and ambition as emotion was almost sentimental being in him it was not in him from being one able to be succeeding able to be winning by the being in him, aspiration and ambition as intention was really stupid being in him, they were not from being in him but from needing to be having what he needed to be having to have anything be important to him which was not from the being in him important to him. He was then certainly for Dehning family living not honest for daily living and to himself then he was a man having it in him to have that he was not quite certain that to be a dead one was to be really not a dead one. He had some loving feeling in him, he could with not winning resisting and engulfing being have violent temper sometimes in him. He was one then to Dehning family living not honest in daily living. He was one very much later, and working with some men, not really not successful in living.

  Certainly some are loving, some are honest, some are good ones, some are thinking in living, certainly there are some in living having some of thinking, loving, good being, honesty in them. Some have certainly some of something really in them. Certainly they have.

  Some have pretty honest living in them always in their daily living and are liking it very well that they have some reputation for this thing. Mr. Dehning really was such a one. Some come to be sometime completely certain that they are completely honest ones in living and then all their living they are completely freely attacking with this thing. Julia Dehning was such a one. She was really not feeling it as being that there was for her a reputation of being an honest one in living, she liked it that the Dehning family living, Mr. Dehning, had a complete reputation of honest living in daily living, her being an honest one in daily living was a thing when she came to be living with it inside her completely in her she could be using all her living for all the attacking she was ever doing to be winning. Alfred Hersland was not believing that not every one was thinking that he was an honest enough one for daily living. He never really was certain that any one excepting Mr. Dehning was really believing that he was not an honest man for any kind of daily living. He never was really certain that Julia could have really been believing this thing if she had not been then and all of her living in Dehning family living. Julia was certain of this thing that Alfred Hersland was not honest enough for daily living when she came to living in married living. She came very quickly to be very certain that to her then she was one living in her being which was one being complete in honest living and she was soon then coming to be attacking in all her living with this thing. Mr. Dehning as I was saying was one having completely in him for him the reputation of being one really completely honest enough for any daily living. Mrs. Dehning was one honest enough for any daily living, and she had feeling of Dehning family living having a reputation for this thing but the kind of reputation she was always feeling they were having was the kind one comes to be having when one is a dead one, when one is not any longer in living, she was really in living quite completely an honest one. Each one then of the four of them Mr. Dehning, Alfred Hersland, Julia Hersland and Mrs. Dehning had a different feeling in their having reputation of being an honest enough one for living.

  This is then what was happening. Mr. Dehning had come quite slowly to be certain that Alfred Hersland was completely not an honest enough man for any honest enough daily living. Mr. Dehning had come quite slowly enough to be certain of this thing. He had as I was saying never been really certain that Alfred Hersland was really for him in Dehning family living and then he was certain enough of this thing to be pretty nearly completely listening to Alfred Hersland telling about anything if needed to be doing to be really living in daily living and then he was still not quite entirely completely listening and he was already then giving Alfred Hersland what Alfred Hersland was needing to be beginning to be living in daily living to be beginning to be living to be one succeeding in living, Mr. Dehning then certainly came to be certain that Alfred Hersland was not honest enough for any daily living and Alfred Hersland was quite certain then that Mr. Dehning was completely in him certain of this thing. Mr. Dehning did not see Alfred Hersland any more at all then to speak at all to him in any daily living. Mr. Dehning was certainly certain that he could convince any one that certainly Alfred Hersland was not honest for any daily living. Mr. Dehning could certainly convince almost any one of this thing. Mr. Dehning did certainly not just then begin anything to convince any one of this thing.

  Julia Hersland came very quickly to be really certain that Alfred Hersland was not an honest one for any daily living and as I was saying she was one having then certainly complete courage for being one going on being living. She knew then as being in her that she was one being honest always in being one being living, having courage always for being one going to be going on being living. She was always then needing to be one going to be learning everything. This has been then a complete description. She was quickly certain that Alfred Hersland was not honest for any daily living. This then was then for Alfred Hersland not a serious thing, this was then not in him then as important in him, as being living then in him as being really something really exciting. As I was saying in a way Julia Hersland was not an interesting one in being living. She was an interesting one in being living to some, that will be again more history of her.

  Mrs. Dehning was certainly not certain from any being in her that Alfred Hersland was not honest enough for any daily living. She could and did come to be quite certain of this thing. As I said of her she was completely an honest one in being one being living. As I was saying she was feeling reputation as being as if some one were already a dead one. As I was saying she was one mostly attacking harshly in living but not for any winning. As I was saying she had sense for living. As I was saying she was always being in her stupid being in being one feeling anything. So then she was not certain from any being in he
r being there to her in her that Alfred Hersland was not honest enough for any daily living. She certainly came to be certain of this thing. So then she was going on talking to Allred Hersland for quite a long time in daily living and then it came that to hear him or to see him or to know of him made her completely then a nervous one.

  I will be telling about feeling being in George Dehning and Hortense Dehning in the history of David Hersland that will certainly sometime be written.

  I have given a description of Alfred Hersland and Julia Hersland not succeeding in married living, of Alfred Hersland not succeeding in being one beginning to be succeeding in living from being in Dehning family living. As I was saying later he was not failing in living, he was fairly succeeding, later when he was working with some other men.

  This is to be now more history of married living of Mr. and Mrs. Hersland and of Mr. Dehning living and Mrs. Dehning being living.

  The Herslands Alfred and Julia were living married living. They had a baby and it was quite a strong well one but it did not live to be a very old one. It got sick and died of something. As I was saying Julia loved babies being little babies and her children. This first one was a little boy and Mrs. Dehning thought that he was one looking very much like the father of him. Mr. Dehning had seen him and saw him very often and he was glad that his daughter Julia had a baby and loved him.

  They had later Julia and Alfred another child and this one was a girl and Mrs. Dehning was certain that this one would be in Dehning family living, this one was already looking like the mother of her. Mr. Dehning often saw her when the nurse was with her, the baby, and he liked it very much that Julia was happy in having a little girl who was like her. Then there was a little boy who was quite a weak little one and about this one it was not quite certain although Mrs. Dehning was pretty nearly certain that he was quite a good deal like the father of him. This one was quite a weak little one in commencing but he came to be quite a strong enough little one a little later in his living. He was certainly a good deal like the father of him, Mrs. Dehning often said this about him but he had it a little in him to be like his young uncle George Dehning. Mrs. Dehning did not say this very often Mr. and Mrs. Hersland then were living then married living as I am saying.